Here is the gist of the article as a video:

New updates are added at the bottom of this story …….

The original story (published January 27, 2021) follows:

Google Chrome is the most popular browser in the world and this can be attributed in large part to the fact that it is one of the simplest and most intuitive browsers available today.

The browser’s no-nonsense approach, in which only the most essential features have been implemented, has served it rather well. Recently, however, a new addition of functionality has not been well received by many users.

Cannot turn off trending searches on the Google Chrome app homepage. I have tried looking for a way to turn them off, but there is no option to turn them off. Please help yourself!
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I recently cleared all my caches and browsing history on YouTube (NOT Chrome) and now for some reason my Google Chrome shows me trending searches when I hit the search bar where it showed my recent research.
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As the screenshot above shows, Chrome’s search / address bar is now filled with irrelevant trending searches. This left no space for recent searches to show up, causing inconvenience for many.

Additionally, the issue persists on Android and desktop versions of the browser app.

Now, trending searches are not entirely useless. The feature is pretty cool if you want to stay on top of it because it returns a list of keywords that have been searched a lot recently.

As it stands, it’s just that the feature just hasn’t been implemented properly and has crammed the trending search suggestions with no space left for recent searches. And recent research is extremely helpful.

But perhaps the worst part is that the feature cannot be turned off. Also, going back to an older version of Chrome probably won’t help, as the issue apparently happened on its own without any app updates.

Ways to turn off trending search suggestions on Google Chrome

1. Disable the functionality of the Google site: Having said that, there is actually an option to turn off trending searches on the Google site. Simply go to Settings> Search results> Autofill with trend searches and turn it off.

However, as many users report, this one is ineffective. It’s still worth it.

2. Disable the functionality of Chrome: Alternatively, you can also try the following:

3. Add a feature to the Chrome filters: But if none of the above did the job for you, then the following could be your last resort:

Try adding to “My filters”:
www.google.com ## ul[role=”listbox”]: a (li[role=”presentation”]: has-text (/ ^ SEARCH TRENDS $ /))
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1:03 p.m. (IST): If you want to turn off trending searches on a web browser on your Android phone, here’s what you can do:

1. On your Android phone or tablet, open a browser such as Chrome Chrome or Firefox.
2. Go to google.com.
3. At the top left, tap Menu Menu and then Settings.
4. Under “AutoComplete with Trend Searches”, select Do not show popular searches. (Source)

4:25 p.m. (IST): One person shared a potential workaround which is to change the language to something other than English in the “Language in Google products” settings.

Just an update picked up elsewhere, if you go to the search settings on the Google homepage and set the “Language in Google Products” to something other than English, trending searches go away! Hope they will sort this out soon (Source)

5:54 p.m. (IST): If you are one of the many affected by the issue, you might find some relief in the fact that the issue has been referred to the Google search team for investigation.

I’m just confirming that this issue has been referred to the Google search team for investigation. Please continue to follow this thread for any updates. (Source)

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